ratstochoosebetweenstarvationandelectricshocktoseeif
theydevelopulcers(whichtheydo)doessobecausetherat
hasanervoussystemvery similartoahumanbeing’s,and
presumably feels an electric shock in a similar way.
Therehasbeenoppositiontoexperimentingonanimalsfora
longtime.Thisoppositionhasmadelittleheadwaybecause
experimenters, backed by commercial firms that profit by
supplyinglaboratoryanimalsandequipment,havebeenable
toconvincelegislatorsandthepublicthatoppositioncomes
from uninformed fanatics who consider the interests of
animalsmoreimportantthantheinterestsofhumanbeings.
Buttobeopposedtowhatisgoingonnowitisnotnecessary
toinsistthatallanimalexperimentsstopimmediately.Allwe
needtosayisthatexperimentsservingnodirectandurgent
purposeshouldstopimmediately,andintheremainingfields
ofresearch, weshould, wheneverpossible,seek to replace
experiments that involve animals with alternative methods
that do not.
Tounderstandwhythisseeminglymodestchangewouldbe
soimportantweneedtoknowmoreabouttheexperiments
thatarenowbeingperformedandhavebeenperformedfora
century.Thenwewillbeabletoassesstheclaimbydefenders
ofthepresentsituationthatexperimentsonanimalsaredone
onlyforimportantpurposes.Thefollowingpages,therefore,
describesomeexperimentsonanimals.Readingthereportsof
theseexperimentsisnotapleasantexperience;butwehave
anobligationtoinformourselvesaboutwhatisdoneinour
owncommunity,especiallysincewearepaying,throughour
taxes, for most of this
research.Iftheanimalshavetoundergotheseexperiments,
theleastwecandoisreadthereportsandinformourselves